SITUATION

SITUATION is the fourth studio album from Flex Entertainment superstar Lil Squeaky. The album was released on September 3, 2021 and features a much grimier and underground sound than his previous works.

Background
SITUATION was conceived and created during a stint in which Lil Squeaky was not signed to Flex, from April 2021 to January 2022. Squeaky got the idea for the album in May of 2021, originally planning to release it as a "10-track prank album to piss all my fans off." The earliest developed components of the project were conceived in July 2020, with the hook for "MESOTHELIOMA" allegedly being written two days after the release of Squeaky's commercial breakthrough album God Mode; the instrumental was reportedly produced in August or September and modified during the recording of SITUATION. The earliest known track for the album was "CYBERBULLY," which was leaked in winter 2021 and which was initially intended for Squeaky's now-cancelled Jews in the Ghetto, vol. 3 mixtape. Many songs intended for that mixtape, such as "I Need Water," "Die," "A Muppet," "Oh," "World Falls Down," and "She Succed Me All Night Long," were released on various compilation albums.

Production for SITUATION officially kicked off in late spring 2021, with the bulk of the album's production being done over the summer. Initially slated for release on July 23, 2021, the album was preceded by the single "CHECK," featuring Lil Mosquito Disease, which underperformed due to Lil Squeaky's absence from the label, but was well-received by those who heard it, and was seen as an indicator of improvement during arguably the lowest point in Squeaky's career. After delaying the album, the second single "WAY2GO," featuring CRZFawkz, was released to hold off listeners; the song also underperformed commercially but was very positively received by listeners and managed to increase anticipation for the album.

The creation process for SITUATION was particularly notable for the massive amount of songs and instrumentals created for the album; aside from the 20 tracks on the album, over a dozen scrapped songs were later released on compilation albums, and several instrumentals were given to other artists for use on their own songs, with Tending Bike's self titled album containing a few of said instrumentals and the track "Fazt Carz" being a completed version of a scrapped SITUATION track. Squeaky's creative process was also relatively high-profile; Squeaky stated he would get "high off caffeine" by walking to Target or Giant and buying Bang energy drinks almost every day, and would spend numerous evenings working on the album immediately afterwards. He also stated that he listened to lots of cloud rap and underground hip-hop from various playlists, often while driving through "nostalgic areas of his county" in the evening, which influenced the sound and aesthetic of the album. Squeaky also described the album's creation as a "community-building exercise," in which he obtained features on the vast majority of the album's tracks and refused to decline or exclude any verses he received.

Content
SITUATION is commonly described as an underground hip-hop album and a phonk album, taking heavy inspiration from Memphis hip-hop of the 90s, early 2010s trap and cloud rap, and modern Memphis rappers such as Key Glock, Pooh Shiesty, and Xavier Wulf. The instrumentals make heavy use of distorted, bitcrushed, and warped samples from songs and Cymatics packs; many songs additionally utilize cowbells and drums patterns containing "the Memphis bounce," often utilizing lo-fi or older sounding drum samples and rich 808s. The sound is considerably darker and grimier than Squeaky's last two studio albums, and received some comparisons to the Squeaky For President 2: The Re-Election mixtape, though arguably containing both more polished production and heavier use of gritty samples.

Squeaky's performances across the album typically utilize a more hushed delivery compared to In Development or God Mode, and feature significantly less singing and melodic rapping than those two albums. The lyrical content, which Squeaky described as "more off-the-dome and low-effort" than his previous efforts, features numerous lyrics discussing drug use, sex with women, fashion, material items, and various references to video games, movies, and TV shows. Many strange and questionable lyrics are present within the more normally written verses, which some have compared to the songwriting of rapper Nardo Wick. The features across the album often provide performances that do not match the songs they're on, which adds to the particular style of the album.

Singles
SITUATION was preceded by two singles, "CHECK" featuring Lil Mosquito Disease, and "WAY2GO" featuring CRZFawkz. Following the album's release, "CYBERBULLY" featuring WT was released as a single, becoming the album's biggest hit by a wide margin. In fall 2022, Squeaky teased the potential release of more SITUATION tracks as singles, with "PRESSURE" featuring Beetlebat and "GUN" featuring Tending Bike being leading contenders for new singles.

Chart performance
The album debuted at No. 5 on the Braeden's Most Played Songs chart with 200,000 units sold. It became Squeaky's seventh top ten album. It was certified Gold on November 21, 2021. The album was the 91st best-selling record of 2021. It has sold 773,000 units as of 2022.

Critical reception
SITUATION received generally mixed to negative reception on release with some fans seeing it as a return to form after the polarizing In Development and most seeing it as a step back. The album's production and energy were praised however it was criticized for its length, feature choices and lack of variety musically. The album began a feud between Squeaky and Yung Lambo, who featured on the album, but quickly began calling it Squeaky's worst work while saying Squeaky was never good to begin with and reversing many of his positive opinions on Squeaky's work. Yung Lambo's massive influence allowed him to convince many other Squeaky fans to turn on Squeaky and the album, leading to Squeaky's reputation collapsing and only being redeemed the following year after the release of his following studio album Art. A year after its release, the album's reputation began to improve, though Yung Lambo has continued to insist that the album is "mid" and not worth listening to.